Leoš Janáček attempted to establish and improve high musical education in Brno from his early age.

Janáček was the first director of the conservatory, but the school gained its current seat only during the directorship of his successor, Jan Kunc.

The commemorate plaque at the building reads: „Kaiser Franz Josef I. widmete dieses Haus der Bildung von Volksschullehrern 1872."

[1] During the period of German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the school became an important centre of Czech and Moravian cultural tradition.

Other important directors include pianist and musicologist Ludvík Kundera and music theorist and composer Zdeněk Blažek.